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From: jeff@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton)
Subject: Re: Minsky's new article
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References: <	<gyroCysG7u.8Hs@netcom.com>> <HPM.94Nov5101751@cart.frc.ri.cmu.edu>
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 22:24:26 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.philosophy:22183 comp.ai:25280 comp.robotics:15428

In article <HPM.94Nov5101751@cart.frc.ri.cmu.edu> hpm@cs.cmu.edu writes:
>Scott L. Burson writes:
>>hpm writes:
>>>Sean Matthews vents his bile:
>>First off, I think that's not a fair characterization of his critique, which
>>raised some entirely valid concerns.
>
>Given Sean's first supercilious ad-hominem flame-bait post parodying
>Marvin, he deserves everything he gets!

Two wrongs make a right, eh?

>>But replacing the brain with a piece of artificial hardware?  No.  Not soon,
>>not ever, and I think it *does* sound silly.  Whether such articles as
>>Marvin's really have negative consequences for AI funding I have no idea, but
>>I think it's a valid concern for Sean to be raising.
>
>Like I said, the idea breaches a mental dichotomy, which is why you
>feel that gut reaction.  If you were smart, you would stand back from
>your emotional response and look at the idea dispassionately.  There
>is nothing known that physically makes it impossible.  Then you slowly
>train yourself to get used to it emotionally.  Then you teach others.
>That's exactly what the early space pioneers did for their equally
>disturbing idea.  Don't be a wimp, ruled by stone-age mental blocks.

So does Scott deserve everything he gets too?  "If you were smart",
"emotional response", "wimp", "stone-age mental blocks"?  Is that
the stuff of dispassionate debate?

-- jd


